Cop Car
by brandtfan
Summary: "We drove right past that no trespassing sign. We sat on the tailgate and watched those planes take off..." Short story based on the song recorded by both Keith Urban and the song's original writer Sam Hunt. What kind of adventures can Steve and Catherine get themselves into while sitting on the tarmac at the airport? More than either of them bargained for, that's for sure!


I absolutely love this song, recorded by both by Keith Urban and the song's writer Sam Hunt. This story is the inspiration I took from it. Hope you enjoy! :)

 **"Cop Car"**

We drove right past  
That no trespassing sign  
We sat on the tailgate  
And watched the planes take off

We thought we had all night  
There was no need to rush  
That's when those cops  
Came pulling up  
And I thought  
Man, ain't this some shhhh

Your daddy's gonna kill me  
But if I survive tonight  
I wouldn't change one thing  
Baby, yeah  
I know it sounds crazy

But there was somethin bout the way  
The blue lights were shinin  
Bringing out the freedom in your eyes  
I was too busy watching you  
Going wild child  
To be worried about going to jail  
You were thinking that  
Running for it  
Would make a good story  
I was thinking you were crazy as hell  
And you were so  
Innocent  
But you were stealing my heart  
I fell in love in the back of a cop car

Man, they weren't playin  
They sure threw those cuffs on quick  
You tried to sweet talk 'em  
They didn't fall for it  
But I did  
You were on the left  
I was on the right  
I knew you didn't smoke  
When you asked him for a light  
And I laughed  
He got mad and slammed the door

CHORUS

Side by side  
And locked in tight  
They were taking their time  
But we didn't mind

We talked  
And we laughed  
We sat real close  
By the time they let us go  
I was already gone

CHORUS

* * *

"And I think that-.." Catherine stopped, doing a double take back to a sign posted on the chain link fence they drove past. Um, okay that was a no trespassing sign, right?" she asked as they drove through the open gate onto the tarmac. Even in the small amount of dusky light left in the evening, she could still see Steve's wild grin. And it was all the confirmation she needed. "Steve, what are we doing?" She asked with a bit of excitement, yet nervous energy in her voice. She gave him a puzzled smile.

"We've got all night right?" He answered cryptically. Of course he had a plan, though. Thanks to a little suggestion given to him by his partner, Steve had quite the evening planned.

Catherine hesitated. "Yeah, I don't have to be on base until 0900 hours." She was ultra-curious now. "What are you up to Commander?" She tried to look stern, but the amusement in her voice gave her away.

He pulled the truck to a stop, hopped out and went around to the passenger side. "C'mon," He motioned to Catherine as he opened her door. "We don't have anywhere else to be," he shrugged nonchalantly. "Let's just sit here for a bit." He pulled the tailgate down just as a passenger plane began taxiing in the distance.

"Um, okay?" She let out a light laugh. She tried gauging his facial expression but his poker face was too good as he pulled himself up.

"But the no trespassing thing? That doesn't concern you?" She teased as she hopped up beside him.

"Nah," he shook his head. "Do you really think anyone actually patrols around here?" He asked seriously. "Besides, we're not even that close to the planes taking off." He looked up as the plane they'd seen taxiing left the ground. "What are we hurting by being here? I mean look out over there," he pointed to the ocean straight ahead of them in the distance. "Imagine what a sunset would look like coming up over there."

"Uh..yeah, it would be pretty breathtaking, I'd imagine." She nodded, suddenly jolted by a memory. Her mind flashed back to a conversation the two of them had over beers at a little bar in California once. It was so long ago, Catherine thought Steve couldn't possibly remember the alcohol induced promise he'd given her at the time.

"Steve, is this what I think it is?" She asked, trying not to sound too expectant or hopeful. Though, here she was bringing it out from some small, dark corner of her memory. She wondered whether Steve had too.

"Well," he smirked as he reached around her for the pack he'd brought with them. "I guess that depends on what you're thinking, Rollins."

"Uh huh." She replied, feeling confident in her suspicions. "So that's a yes, isn't it?" She swung her legs up onto the bed of the truck to face him. She couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of him remembering that seemingly insignificant conversation too.

"Shit." Steve spoke with a complete lack of animation in his voice seconds after turning himself back to face the sunset.  
"Oh, did I ruin the surprise?" She teased, rather pleased with herself.

"No." he shook his head as their eyes met. "Cath, this isn't.." He trailed off as her eyes broke from his to look at whatever he was seeing.

"What?" She followed his eyes to some shining blue lights coming towards them from further up the tarmac. Catherine's body tensed instantly as she made the discovery. "What, what are we going to do?" She asked with a rushed tone.

"Here," he jumped down and held his hand out for her. "We're going to calmly explain our story, and I'm sure everything will be fine." He let out a clearly disconcerted sigh.

"Are you trying to convince me, or yourself?" Catherine asked, all the while aware of how much closer those blue lights were getting.

"I don't know." Steve answered honestly. "C'mon, let's just get in the truck and wait." He put the tail gate up and began walking around to the driver's side door.

"Wait? Wait for what, them to arrest us?" She shook her head in disagreement. "Steve, if I get arrested my CO is going to kill me. And you too, probably." She stood in front of him with her arms crossed in serious defiant mode.

"Well, what else are we going to do?" he echoed her body language. "Run?" The second that tiny little word was out of his mouth, Steve knew he'd done it.  
"Well," Catherine began. Her eyes lit up like the now very fast approaching blue lights. "Running for it _would_ make a good story, don't you think?" She beamed up at him as the cop car came to a screeching halt behind her.

"I think you're crazy as hell," He forced the words before the two officers were suddenly in their faces.

"Stay where you are!" One of them yelled. "Keep your hands above your head sir, ma'am." He continued to bellow as the other officer approached them.

"Okay, okay, if we can all just calm down," Steve began.

They were not having any of it. "You are both under arrest for trespassing, breaching airport security, and suspicious behaviour at an international airport. Place your hands behind your back, please." Officer number one was not wasting any time.

"Whoa, hang on a minute." Catherine spoke as she eyed the officer grabbing the handcuffs from his belt. "Since when is 'suspicious behaviour' a prosecutable offense?"

"Catherine," Steve spoke as the other officer approached him with cuffs at the ready. "Just, don't say anything." He begged with his eyes.

"Well, this can't be real." She shook her head. "Are you guys actual cops, or just airport rent-a-cops?" She smirked all while taking in the look of concern and then shock on her partner in crime's face.

"Catherine!" Steve admonished again. But before he had the chance to say another word, they were both cuffed and being physically persuaded towards the patrol car.

"Officer," Steve tried a different tactic. "My name is Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett." He waited a beat, but the man appeared to not be interested in who he was. "Sir," Steve continued as the two men continued to forcibly walk them towards the car. "Lieutenant Rollins and I sincerely apologise." He struggled to make sure the man heard his last ditch attempt at talking his way out of the situation. "Please, can you just give us a second?" He thought surely he could reason with the man.

But like a well-practiced synchronized team, they were placed in their respective seats in the back of the car. "Well, this is just great." Steve muddled quietly under his breath.

"Steve, if this is your idea of a surprise, you definitely got me." She raised her cuffed hands up in front of him signalling for a high five.

His eyes flew back and forth from her open palm to the wild look in her eyes. "Catherine," his neck protruded out as he spoke. He really couldn't wrap his head around the woman sitting beside him. "I don't know what you thought I was planning tonight, but this was so not it." He looked over at her expecting to see anger and maybe even a little fear on her face. However, he couldn't have been more wrong.

"Wait," she twisted back towards her side before the officer could close her door. "Just one question." She waited for the man to give his approval by way of a nod. That same wild look was plastered across her face before she spoke again. "Is that a gun holstered to your belt, or are you just happy to see me?"

She barely had the last word out before the door was slammed abruptly in her face. They watched the two officers retreat back to Steve's truck and begin inspecting it.

"Oh my God!" Steve wasn't sure just what to do besides laugh at that point. "What on earth has gotten into you Lieutenant?" He spoke freely as it was just the two of them locked in there tightly. His mind was wandering easily to this incarnation of bad ass Catherine.

Meanwhile, all she did was laugh. "My CO is going to kill me. But as crazy as it sounds, I don't care."

"Wild Child Rollins, huh?" Steve looked her up and down as if he was seeing her for the very first time. "There is something about this, it's making you different."

"What do you mean, different?" She asked, genuinely curious.

"Maybe it's the blue shiny lights, they're getting me all loopy." He tried to cover up what he'd almost accidentally verbalized.

"Yeah, that must be it." She replied skeptically before changing the subject. Catherine knew that was not the time to be pushing Steve past his emotional comfort zone. "There sure are taking their time." She observed while watching them out the windshield. The two men were sifting through the few items in the bed of the truck as Steve and Catherine looked on.

"They have to be thorough." He shrugged. After all, we could be international drug smugglers, or worse." He shook his head, thinking about just how much trouble they were going to be in when this was over.

"Just think," Catherine spoke up taking him out of the reverie. "If we'd ran, they probably would've just shot at us." She shook her head. "They would've had us convicted right then and there." She let a small giggle escape her lips. She glanced up at Steve who was giving her a seriously disapproving glance in return.

"Wait," Catherine gasped, her tone becoming completely serious. "You don't think we'll _actually_ go to jail, do you?" She searched his eyes with a panic induced vigor.

"I don't know Cath, but I'm sure talking back to the police officers didn't exactly help our chances of getting out of here tonight." He let his head hit the back of the seat.

"DANNY!" Catherine suddenly burst out laughing causing Steve to whip his head back up.

"Shh!" he spoke while simultaneously eyeing the officers through the windshield. Luckily, the pair had not heard the outburst.

"Sorry," She replied through the mini fits of laughter. "I just thought of something really funny."

"Yeah, I got that." Steve nodded. "Care to share?"

"Well," she began, hardly able to contain her giddiness. "If we do go to jail, _someone_ is going to have to come get us."

"I'll call Chin." He answered very matter-of-factly.

"Can't," Catherine shook her head. "He and Leilani left for visiting her family on the Big Island this morning." "e |He's on Maui with Leilani until next week." She paused, waiting. Just as he was about to open his mouth she continued. "And Kono and Adam won't be back from Prague until next week." She tried her hardest to stop the little curl from creeping up over her lips.

"I'm never going to stop hearing about this." He closed his eyes, letting his mind go to all the fun his partner will have with this little situation.

"Just think," Catherine added. "With all his focus on this, he'll leave you alone about other stuff." She rested her hands on his as a form of reassurance.

Steve looked down at her hands and then back to her face. He let out a sigh that to his own surprise felt satisfactory.

Catherine was quick to pick up on what it meant. "Aw, c'mon." She nudged him with her elbow. "Admit it, sailor. There's a small part of you that is enjoying this."

"Ha!" He broke into a genuine hearty laugh. "I think that's a stretch." He looked at her, up and down once again. "This, though." He freed his hands of hers and motioned up and down towards her. "This, this is something else." He shimmied himself over to be as close to her as possible. "I'm, I, this…" he trailed off, all trace of the things he wanted to say gone. He smiled and leaned over to plant a kiss on her lips.

"Hmm," She smiled sweetly. "I'm glad to know I can still have that effect on you Commander." There had been a time Catherine Rollins wasn't exactly sure what she meant to the man she'd come to love so much. It was reassuring to hear him confess in his own way how he felt.

They were both so entranced in their conversation that neither of them had seen one of their arresting officers approach the car again. "Rollins!" He barked as he opened her door. "Out, now." She paused, searching Steve's face for guidance.  
"What..?" She hesitantly threw her legs over to the side to get out.

"Come with us, ma'am." The officer who'd cuffed her helped her out of the car and guided her towards the front of Steve's truck.

Steve leaned forward trying to keep as close an eye on them as possible. His mind was racing with possibilities as to why Catherine was singled out. The truth was, he wasn't even thinking about the idea of going to jail. He was too busy relishing in the moment with Catherine. The unfolding events of that evening gave him all the answers he didn't even know he was looking for. It became clear to him, watching her that night that he was completely and totally in love with her. As Danny would say, he was a goner. Plain and simple. Hearing Catherine's raised voice snapped him out of his head in just enough time for the door to be opened once more.

"Hey," She greeted him with a playful grin as the door slammed behind her.

"Uh, what was that about?" Steve asked, not sure if he really wanted to hear the answer.

"Umm.." She replied slowly. "Good news and bad news."

"Good news first." Steve answered immediately. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed the two officers walking back to the car together. "Are we going to jail, Cath?" he added on quickly.

"Okay." She agreed. "Good news is, they're taking us to HPD to be officially booked."

Steve's mouth involuntarily dropped. "That's the good news?"

"Yeah." She nodded, not giving much of her own thoughts away.

"So what's the bad then?" he asked, absolutely positive that he didn't really want to know this time.

"Danny is meeting us there." She flashed him a wicked grin as the two officers got back in.

"Great." He mumbled sarcastically as the driver started the car and drove towards the open gate off the tarmac.

"C'mon," Catherine teased as they rode. "It's just Danny. You're a Navy SEAL, you've survived much worse."

Steve huffed with a grin. "We'll see which is worse. That is, _if_ I survive this."

Catherine quietly placed her hands on his and felt his grip. "Steve," she paused until he gave his undivided attention. "Regardless of what Danny says, there's no one I'd rather get arrested with."

She leaned towards him, her lips just reaching his cheek for a simple peck.

"Yeah." He nodded, giving her hands a gentle squeeze as they pulled into the HPD yard. "You know, I know this sounds crazy. But I wouldn't change a thing about tonight."

"Not one?" She asked, surprised as a familiar black Chevy Camaro roared in beside them.

"Nah." He shook his head simply as their doors opened.  
"Commander McGarrett," his arresting officer spoke as he held out the key to the cuffs. "Turn around please."

"What..?" Steve paused and then quickly turned, realizing he was being released. He glanced to the other side of the car to see Catherine experiencing the same fate. "I don't understand.." he became even more confused as she zipped around to his side of the car just as Danny's door opened and he got out too.

"Cat, I have to tell you." Danny spoke after waving a thanks and goodbye to the two HPD officers. "If it wasn't for that big goof you get between the sheets with once in a while coming after me, I'd scoop you up for myself right here, right now." He beamed as he leaned in for a congratulatory hug. "This was better than I could've ever imagined."

"Hey," She gave a hearty, deep laughter as they let go of each other. Looking up at Steve's utterly clueless, speechless being, Catherine continued. "I wouldn't count yourself out just yet."

"No?" Danny feigned optimism while also basking in his partner's current state.

"I mean, you outsmarted him this time right? What's to say you couldn't do it again?" She laughed out loud as she spoke, being joined by Danny as she finished her sentence.

"Okay one of you better explain to me what is going on, _right now._ " Steve's chest was heaving, the suspicions spiralling through his mind.

"Oh, it's very simple." Danny looked him square in the face. "You gave me an opportunity to pull off one spectacular, incredibly satisfying practical joke. And I took it." He pat his partner on the shoulder.

"Excuse me?" Steve continued bruiting like an angry animal. "What are you talking about Danny?" His attention was quickly diverted to Catherine who let a little blip of laughter escape her lips.

"And you?" He turned to her with arms crossed and an expression that meant business. "You were in on it?"

When Catherine's eyes met his she couldn't help but let the full laugh out once more. "Steve.. you should've seen your face when those cops came pulling up." She turned to her co-conspirator. "And I wish you could've seen it, Danny. That's the one thing I would change." She took another opportunity to look back at Steve.

"Yeah, I wish I could've seen it too." He retorted instantly. "But I suppose there's always the patrol car dash cams tape, right Danno?" He smirked, letting his friend know he wasn't truly angry.

"Already requested." The blond detective nodded. "It's going to be this year's Christmas card, actually." He continued to tease before his phone rang from its place in his pocket.

"Hey," Catherine snaked an arm around Steve's back. "You're not too mad at me, are you?" She asked quietly as Danny answered his phone.

Steve thought for a second before his lips curled up. "Nah, I couldn't be." He wrapped his arm around her and kissed her temple as Danny's phone call ended.

"That was Rachel, she said she's having car trouble and needs me to go pick Grace up from her friends house. So as much as I would love to stand here and bask in all the glory that is pulling a fast one on you, I'm gonna have to take a rain check."

"Oh, that's a shame." Steve retorted, the sarcasm dripping from his voice. "You know what buddy? Why don't I have my people call your people, and we can find a free afternoon for all your gloating, how's that?" He managed to keep his tone steady without laughing.

Catherine however, was enjoying a good chuckle watching their little passive aggressive spat unfold.

"That's perfect," Danny laughed as he got back in his car. "Because I haven't even touched on how great it was to feel the irony of knowing someone was actually booking you, after all the stupid times you've had me do it."

Admittedly enjoying the irony a little himself, Steve laughed out loud. "Yeah, just call my people." He smirked as wily as the Cheshire cat as his partner started his car. "And we'll book it, Danno."  
"Oh, that's brilliant." Danny tried to sound unimpressed but his amusement was clear also. "And I am your people, you dope." He shook his head in jest as he pulled out of the spot.

Steve reciprocated the head shake as they waved their goodbyes.

When the Camaro disappeared around the corner of the HPD lot Steve turned and wrapped his other arm around Catherine so they could face each other fully. "Rollins, did this little plan of yours include getting us home? Because my truck is presumably still sitting on the tarmac at the airport."

"Um," she laughed meekly, looking up at him. "Yeah, it involved Danny driving us back there to get it."

"I see." He nodded as a playful grin crept up on him. "So you feel like going for a six mile run back to the airport to get it then?"

"What? Now?" She let go of him and laughed, knowing he had to be joking.

"Yes." He replied matter of factly. "After all this, I'd like to be home before midnight."

"You're serious?" She asked with annoyance in her tone.

"Yes." He replied once more. " _Now_ are you sure you wouldn't change even one thing about tonight?" there was a trace of humour in his voice as he checked to make sure his laces were tied securely.

"Yeah, completely." She smiled at him before looking down to make sure her own shoes were tied. "And how about you, huh? Anything you'd change about tonight?"

Steve thought about it for a moment, looking between her and the road ahead of them. "Nah, I don't think I would."

"Really?" Catherine replied, surprised. "Not even the relentless teasing you'll have to endure from Danny?"

Steve smirked as he stretched his calves out. "Well…." He hesitated, pulling her into a tight embrace.

"Nah, totally worth it." They both enjoyed a moment of laughter before hitting the pavement and heading towards the beautiful setting sun.


End file.
